Family planning strengthens families, enhances the health of women and children, and reduces abortions, The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good (NEP) argues in a new document. The liberal evangelical group urges fellow evangelicals to support programs that provide family planning services for the poor both in the United States and abroad.

The document, called "A Call to Christian Common Ground on Family Planning, and Maternal, and Children's Health," (available here in .pdf) was announced Monday at a press conference (available here on YouTube) in Washington, D.C.

The reason for the document, Richard Cizik, president of NEP, explained, is "we believe in a new kind of engagement," "we believe the Church has not been as actively associated with this issue and with the concern ... as it should be," and "we believe strongly in a compassion agenda." more >>

In a recent lecture on human dignity, the Archbishop of Canterbury made it clear that in his opinion the world at large is not waiting with bated breath to hear what the Church has to say about morality. So why should anyone be expected to take Christians seriously when they launch a global campaign about corruption?

Lectures about morality from Christian communities with a track record in child abuse and bizarre cases where children have been demonized as witches can seem disingenuous. And there is little encouragement in the fact that according to the Status of Global Missions report in 2010, 'ecclesiastical crime' – across all faiths – is on the increase. In 1900 an estimated US$300,000 went missing from religious coffers. In 2010 that figure rose to US$32b and is projected at US$60b by 2025.

Fact and fiction have conspired to paint unpleasant caricatures of pastors pilfering from the offering plate, and preachers growing fat on the sacrifices of their beleaguered congregations. More recently, allegations of theft surrounding the Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele has only served to fuel the fallacious ideas which Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code left so vividly in our minds. Many people still harbor images of the Occupy campaign stalking St Paul's Cathedral for months and raising questions about the church's profligate relationship with City banks. more >>

"First World Problems Anthem" is the new video going viral as it presents a vast disparity between the poor in Haiti and the wealthy in the U.S.

"I hate it when my house is so big, I need two wireless routers," says one Haitian man in the video as he stands in front of a small, run-down home.

"I hate when I tell them no pickles and they still give me pickles," a younger Haitian boy states. more >>

A new billboard campaign launched in Hampton Roads, Va., reveals that in single female-led households, abortion and poverty are dominant, and calls on both the government and the church to try new approaches to help fatherless households.

The ads, sponsored by The Radiance Foundation, a pro-life encouragement and motivational organization, expose two very striking statistics, among others – that out of the 1.21 million annual abortions in the United States, 84 percent are among unmarried women, and single female-led homes are five times more likely to live in poverty. The Foundation calls this a "national crisis."

"If you look at which political party has pushed the types of social policies that has dismantled the family, I would say it has to be the Democrat Party," Ryan Bomberger, Chief Creative Officer of The Radiance Foundation, said Friday in a phone interview with The Christian Post. more >>

"The Line," a new documentary by Sojourners, wants viewers to reconsider many of the stereotypes people have about those living in poverty. In a panel discussion following the film's Tuesday premiere in Washington, D.C., promoters said they hope the film will encourage voters to ask political candidates to talk more about how they would address poverty if elected.

During every election cycle, Matthew 25 gets rewritten to say "just as you did for the middle class," joked the Rev. Adam Taylor. Candidates from neither party seem interested in addressing issues of concern to lower income Americans, the panelists complained.

Taylor, vice president of advocacy for World Vision, was joined on the panel by the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder and president of Sojourners, Linda Midgett, who produced and directed the film and has won two Emmy awards, and Sheila Edwards Howard, founder of Born to Be Light and one of those featured in the film. more >>

The City of Nashville is demanding that a church close down its encampment of tents for the homeless on its property, saying that it violates a zoning law.

Nashville officials told Green Street Church of Christ that the placement of about ten tents is a zoning violation, but the church maintains that such an encampment is part of their mission to help the poor.

Tom Cross, an associate director with Nashville's legal division, told The Christian Post that the tent community falls under the zoning laws regarding camping. more >>